The Sun. — London, England, 1810-03-05 00:00:00

THE I QUIRY. TWELFTH DAY 7 --TyrEsDAv, -Sir. EvaE CoorE's Evidence. • Was it your oeinion . t .that at the time you took the( oturnand in:Walclefren, it I,v:is necessary some irnraediate determination shoul4 be made as to the retaning-or evacuating the island of WalcherZi".?— , It ivas not for me to say what wir. the intention of his • Maje Sty's Ministers; but I ; myself conceived, that it wbetti be Well done to come to a determina tion whether we , were AO keep possession 'of , the islind, or whether we were to evacuate the island. Is it your opinion, .that for the of the ser vice it was absolutely necessary to, lose no time in coinh.g to' such detevinidattoli certainly con : . ceived, as I stated,in my former ansWer;tit would be . welt done . to come t° a determinationfieis not for me to judge What was the intention of hit Majesty's Ministers ; but as far as my opinion went,' it is better at all times to come to a deciSion. " • - • the particular situation in which you fOund yourself when you took the command in Walche -reo, was it not in your opinion necessary to come to some immediate determination, as to the'-propriety of retaining or evacuating it ?—I really think I have answered that question ; but I have no hesitation whatever in saying, I think It wotldhave been well done to determine whether the iidiod was to be re- : tained or not, to be. retained. . In the particular situation ,in-which you found yourself when you took the command at Wel .. chercn, was it oar, in your opinion, necessary to come to sonic inimediate determination as to the propriety of retaining or etiacuatieg it really can give no other answer; I should have been ex, trannely glad that an immediate determination had been come to, for the reason stated in 'a. letter now b: tore t he Commit tee. _ Is the Committee to understand 'it was necessary for the service,' in_ your opinion, that some imme diate deterintnation shotild be come to ?-1 reeear, it would have been well done to come to an imme diate determination. Would it not, in that case, have been particularly well. done ? —No doubt. • You have spoken of the necessity. of erecting a Variety of fortifications on the island of \Valchereu, • it it was proposed to retain it ; what length of time do you think it would have taken to coustruCt such fortifications as would have put that Ward in a state of defence, so as to enable us to retain it dur ing the winter ?—I do not think it possible for me to answer that question, unless.l knew "what ma- Aerials, &c. were, wanted ; I do not see that I could even hazard 'an opinion ; it, no doubt, would take some time. , In your opfnion, would it have taken three months ?—Most certainly. Thep the Committee is •to understand, that if, when towards t he•etid of 06tober it uas deter mined to evacuate Walcheren, it had been determined to retain Walcheren, it would have required three • months to have put it in such a state that it could have been retained by no means wish to be, understood, that 'I limited myself to three months ; I only _ .said that three mouths would be necessary - at least. How Much more than three mouths do you think is impossible fbr we to say. • led" you any conversation with the Naval Of freers, by whiCh you Here le,d to (urns an opinion s - to the pr.;ctic.ibility of defending Walcherea in the winter by a naval ler ce ?,--Adtutrel Otway told " me that he . thoeght it : would be very difficult, be cause' the Ships would be obliged, probably, in bad weather, to go'inib tile basin. Consistently with that opinion of-J dmirai Ot way's, and yOurecibee w itions, do you believe; shat if at the end of October, in the then.state ,olthe fortifications of the: Wand, it had been determined to eta tin Walcheree, there was a probability that we shiaahl"liave .bLeti able to hate dune it ?—Unless all our ineaes . ‘,yem used, it would lenebeiten impossi ble' to'ictain the Maud if attacked. With the foiee you left in the island when you leftit;is it, or is it not your opinion that the ene - toy Could have attacked it who a reasonable pro. spera of success ?—lt. they had attacked the island, aud-sueCeeded in landing, 'certain it is that we had nor troops slitficient to oppese theM, in consequence of iheiresickl)• state. • 'Were not several artificers, together with : , the material's for .buildiog, sent over fron this coentry• during a part of the time you c. namanded at Yal- clit'tm ?—A few artificers arrived, and .I believe 'some bricks ; the quantity I do not know. Was„it during your command in Walcheree in tended to creel barracks to hold the troops ?—Bar racks .wete,to be repaired; but I knew of no inten tion of building barracks. Are you able to form any estimate of the pro. bable expence which would have attended those those repairs ?—I am not. _ Have you heard since what that estimate was ? Not to my recollection.. After the fall of Flushing, were . not the fortifica tiOns of Flushing repaired at considerable expence, and put into a much better state than before ?—They were daily repairing' at a certain expence. Up to what - time did those repairs go on ?—When I left the island (October 29) I believe they still continned ; I cannot answer fot any thing-that pass , ed after I quitted the island, . • W e ic any new outworks thrown up during-the time you were in the island ?—Batteries were raised in several pans of the island., Were those batteries finished, or throwing up, at - the time that you left the island, or had they all been fiiiished below ?—Some were finished, some Were ercC-th:g. Was s your opinion ever taken as to the plan by which it Was proposed to attack Antwerp ?—Not to my recollection. Do you recoiled ehe numb , r of sick that the two hospital ships were capahle-of holding ?—The two ships to which I allu•led were placed as convalescent ' ships off Barnakins ; Ido not know the number of • rre,ei that both would contain, but we"did Pitt 'on board these ships from 52. en to 300 wen - i'the reason of ceir putting so few convalescents on board those ships was, to give -the men bitter accommodation. If we had put on board as many men. as the - ships could contain, they would not have so comfortable, and it was subsequently found expedient to diminish the erieinalaiumeer putt on board. What number of men dO you,. suppose - of the sick in Wa/Cheren it would - haVe b.:en _desirable to em-.- In ships of ',hat deseriptii.n, "if the . ships had been present to be so Occupied ?—The principal Me dical Officer wished to have tried th.- experiment, and to ha - ve put as many men (convalescents) as he conveniently could have managed on board different ships ; that experiment was tried, and it failed. y to the sailing of the . Expedition, did -you undersiand the prevailing opinion of the Ge.' neral • Officers - and other nrlitary Men consulted • upon, that occasion to be in la% our LI. otherwise of the- probability of success iii the attack - on Antwerp 7-- I never heard of those "pinions until after the sitting ofthe Cornmittee of Inquiry. • .What is Your own opinion upon that sulajeet ?—I thought the probability of success was doubtful, and the attempt hazardous. . ,Were there any saamen and marines under the denomination of the' marine brigade attached to the army under your command i—There was a cori s of seamen under the command of Captain Richardson avached• to the army before Flushing, and I un derstood that a battalion of marines were landed at Veer. ZVcre the ,searuen employed in drawing up the field pi, ces and ammunition belonging to the of the army under your coMtAand . ?—Thoy wert. Were the seamen afierwards'employeA in ere-3 ing any anicutir - b.ittery, or generally employed in erecting the bitt,ries for the siege of Flushmg ? The seamen were generally employed in (legging Ihe gutty to the batteries, and at one par ocular b ntery the seamen worked I believe one or two nights. When the batteries were opened before Flush, - - ing s 'w:is not - one of the batteries manned by sea men ?—Yes. Do yOu.reculleEt anv instance of your making any application to Admiral Otway, or any Qiicer of the navy, anti cedent to the cutinitencetl►etlt of tiring upon Fhishing, which was nut immediately com plied with ?—The Officer who commaih:ed men was- Captain • , tit the Royal Navy ; With him alone, to the be,t of my recolletion, I had communication, and he at all times gave toe every possible assistance-in his power. When the line-of-batae ships passed Flushing, do you think that their fire had any particular-effect. upon the town of Flushing i—•"l'heir tiredid a great deal of mischief to tie town. Did , the tire from the bombs and the flotilla an swer all the expettatiuos that y. 1.1 formed of it in the etre.d it . pioduced upon the town of Ulusbing ? —The si ! ips and the tombs destroyed a great many bOuses in the town, and did a great deal of mischief. Generally spc„kinir, do you think that the- fire flow the ships and - Vessels - ac:eleratdd the tall of Flushing line-ot-battle - ships, to the best of my recolleCtion, did not Conic up - till the t4th, and the. town capitulated,• I think, early on the morn ing of the 15th. . . There was little or no sickness in the Navy have been git.en to understand that the, sichneis in the • Naty was confined to the then- who had been' on shure. . Do you conctive at the time you gave up the com-_ mand of Walcheien, that the town and defence; of Rushing were mOre defensib!e than whorl the E g -lis.h artily and 4 your command attacked it ? 7 ,-I'..e defences had been repairing, and were uriainly in a biter sate. From the * preparations which the enemy. were making, which you had an opportunity of witn,ss• ing, do you conc:•ive, if they itad made an attack our Wakherea at the time you gave up the command,. the probability would have b..ien that the enemy would have succeeded' in that atta: k ?—I never saw any preparations making ; I only supposed prepaLa• tio`ns were mzlkin, from the teports that were made to me; it the ettemy had attacked the troopps . in the is:and of Walcheryii, the probability is, that the army was'so stay, that every misfortune must . have been apprehended. In a dispatch of your's, dated' the 2gth of:Sep- ,-tember, from Middleburg, it is stated •that there was at that time ultfy 30olbs. of powder of balk in store, andtlaat that wasf not mor;" than sufficient to answer the consumption of tour or live, days; how soon after the (tate of that letter did al . )) , bark arrive ?-1 never transmitted a letter touching the situation of the sick,to the Secretary of State, with out having had a communication that day with the ~principal Officer of the Medical department; the letter from - the principal, Officer of partment I haVe to pro Ince , -and in consequence of the aeceipt of that letter, I wrote my letter to the Secretary of State of the 29th of September., How soon after the date of this letter was the ar rival of any bark reported to you ?—I cannot answer from my own knowledge ; but the principal Medi: cal Othicer informed me that 800 pounds of bark arrived on the. 11th of .October ; more arrived on the 17th, the 18th, the 26th, and the 27th. _ Then it appears that 12 days after the clate of your letter of the 29tti of September, in which it is slated there is not more than four or five days con sumption of bark in store, namely, on the t lib of 06tober, 800 pounds of bark arrived ; do you know how the garrison was supplied with bark in the mean time ?—A great deal of bark was purchased in the I : land by toy order ; I cannot state the. date when the purchase was made, but as often as the application was m ide to me by the principal Medical • Officers, so often I direct, d thltrn to purchase bark wherever it could be procured. - Were any complaints tif want of medical com forts made to you ?—Porter and Port . wine, -and comforts for the sick men, were bought by order;' the appliCatiOns L have to shew to . the Commitie.: if they wish it. Were the sick well supplied with bedding and blankets ?—I ordered two blanket: to be issued to every soldier in the island ; they made use, of course, in the Hospitals, of those blankets, and of as much bedding as we could procure; all the bedding troth: the Quarter-Master-General's department that I could find, was also issued to the sick men. - - Was there a sufficiency of 'blankets and bedding for the sick—l understoo , l in the first instance that there was not ; but towa - di 4:ie latter part there was a - sufficient number of blankLAs and bedding I believe procured. In visiting the hospitals, did you find that they were sufficiently accommodate 1 tvith bedding and blankets ?—The day after Lord phathaimietr, the island,. 11 rioted the numerous sick, and I certainly fOttlid many in wAnt of bedding, which was .procur ed as'well as it could be got. • - Do you know whether Lord Chatham visited the 'hospitals before his departure ?—I do not know., _ On your subsequent visits to the hospitals, did' you find the sick sufficiently accommodated with bedding and blankets )--To the best of my know ledge, towards the latter part of my command, the troops Were supplied with bedding and blankets. Were they in the first part of your command well supplied ?—Certainly not. Do you know that many of the sick among the . troops suffered severely from having no accoinnao dation but their great coats during their sickness ? I do not. Can you inform the Committee, whether. any of the soldiers, who were in healt'3, were put on board vessels as a means of preventing the sickness ? That was impossible ; for ,h - ad we put the healthy men on board, we should not have bad men suffi cient for the (tiny of the 'island. Do you know how the army . in Walcheten was supplied with water?—There, were wells in the Island; I never heal& the complaint of , want of water. Did you ever hear a complaint of the quality of the water found in the island being I na rtp l i to t h e trOops Iriie heard individuals say that the water was bad ; but I believe it will answer every pur pose, if I state that water•was sent from England, and I applied to the principal Medical Officer to know what I had better do with that .4.ater, and by his advice I gave it to the Navy.- - .The water sent from England has not used for the troops ?--Certainly not.—[Tice Witness was directed to - withdraw.] 'The Chairman was direEted to report progress, and ask leave to sit again, . MAILS. AR RIV : --t Dublin, 2 W-atertokl. Du E--:4 Cottenburah, Cadiz, t Dublin, i Wmertbr.t. PRICE 01. STOCKS THIS DAY AT TWkLVE O'CLOCK. Consols - - 67 f l I Red. Ann. - - 6131- 1: it s U N. SOLEM QUIS D;C - ifiE FALSUM AIIa.EAT L 0 N 0 1. MONDAY, MAIICD 6, wlO.. _ Government have not received auy official ac, counts from Cadiz since our last, We have been favoured with the perusal of a Letter from an Officer, dated on board. ,one of our• ships in Cadiz, Fe bruary i i th, Which states, that the' French had not at that time commenced any setious opera tions, though they had made several slight attmpts to annoy_ the town: on the night of the t6tb, they c3onqructed a raft and attempted to board a merchant vessel, but by mistake they boarded a nun .ut war, the.Oonsequenee of whieh was, that all upon-.the raft Were" either taken or 'drowned. The French prisoners on board the pri4e-ships in Cadiz har bour are becoming ‘ery, troublesome, in conse quence of the near approach of the French army 3 and-several remonstrances have b'een made by our officiers to the Spanish Government on the. pro priety gl' removing them. General LACEY, an , Irishnon, who has displayed great bravery and ta lents, on many occasions, is to succeed VENEGAS aS Governor of Cadiz. The amount of the French force in the vicinity Of L. not known ; some of the accounts state it to consist of three divisions . of 18,000 men each, and Others only of three divisions pf 600') men each. General STE WART arrived at Cadiz on the night of the 11th, with between .2 and 3000 men from Lisbon. The Opposition have again bad recourse to their old trick of spreading reports of the resignation of Ministers. This manoeuvre has now been tried' so often, that it is hardly worth the trouble of a' eon tradi lion. Whatever may be the :result of the motion re speaing Lord CHATHAM to•night in the House of Commons; or however we may regret that he .adopted the-course Which-led to the present discus sion, still we. are convinced that no unprejudiced man will believe the charge which has been pre ferred against his,Lordship, of being influenced by any thing like feelings of malignity against the Gal lant Admiral, employed in the same-service. The Answer which Mr. PEacorna. gave to this charge appears to us deciiive. If Lord CHATHAM really had such an object in view, if he, really wished to prejudice - his Sovereign against Sir RICHARD STRACHAN, why did he not deliver the paper when it was written, in October last ? He could have no mo tive for delay, if he were actuated by such motives as are imputed to him. But there is one'point .to which we beg seriously to call the attention of the. Public, because h is of essential importance, not to . Lord CHATHAM or the present Ministers, but to the , best interests of the Country. Formerly, however ever violent an Opposition might be against a Mi nistry, they confined their violence to their politi cal opponents; they did not extend it to their gal lant Odicers who were absent fighting the battles of the Country by sea and land. It was not then the pra&ice to traduce the characters of Officers, because they might be supposed to be politically conneded with Ministers. The People of this Contury wou!d not have endured, in former wars, to see th.eirG nerals and assailed latheir absence, all . 4 ,their achieymo.nts &preelated, and every libe l , which - an enragedand defeated, ene.mi Mi g h t vent again st ' them, circulated with avidity and %% , ith exaggeration..: Unfortunately for this' country the practice is very dig fel-mit now, A General or an .Adniiril, who is-sq posed.to he favourable to Ministers, or even whine . 'family is connected With Ministers, is sure to have every action Misrepresented, 'to — be eXposed to every. illiberal insinuation, and to every coarse 'that party malignity can suggest. 'phis certainii has been the treatment_ experienced by Lord.cuAT7 HAM. We do not undertake to justify the rue:l - adopted ; but sorely .sosne allowance is to,- :be made fur the feelings of , an officer daily 'and' hourly a.ssaried with such wanton ru:lignity.i-. Bu r if ' the Expedition to the Sclieiclt had COW illetely succeed' ed, Lord CIiATH AI would have experienced just .th c . same degree of abuse, perhapsindced i nnr;beauso ,ho feelings of Party would have been, more irritated b y leis success. The treatment which Lord WELLING- TON •has met with_ is, a proof the justice of ou r observation. His successes . at Rolcia and Vitnier a ! irritated his political opponents in this cou ntry, • though they dared not then give vent to their tee i ' t ags : but evety one recolle&s with What avidity: , with what joy they seized upon the Convention otgintra, and how eager. they were to throw !0 whole blatne of that .CduventiOn upon him. .succe44.peripaign in Portugal, in which he near - IY:illestroyeall . the French aftny , under SOLT , pitatd:liitn,:its Might .naturally beexpetled, to a very. 'conslderable share of abuse ; but the victory at Tal.vera was an offence not' to be pardoned; troth the moment, that; with eO,OOO British troops, 6 6 defeited 47,000 French, he has been the daily ob - - jeet of the most persevering and unrelenting calunr: fly in all the publications of the party. We do not mean to insinuate that those wrio abase Lord WEL' LINGTON for the VitiOry at Talavera r eally the enemy' had succeeded ; certainly nof t wish ; but hat bY identifying Generals and Admirals with 1111 inters, it must ineitablyfollow,.l hat their conduca Will be by. party prejudice, and not by its real 110"& merits. The conseque-nce must in ,time be, that if an Officer knoWs that, .be his m erits what they may, he will like a Minister , con stantly abused by .One party and praised _:by the other, he will lose that ardent desire of obtaining_ the good opinion, of his countrymen, wnich forms one' of the titron(Yest and noblest incentives to grea t and lieroic, tVitions. . .-.—.............. Their 114A;BsTrEs aitd the PE ES INCESS are ex' petle Ito arrive in :fowl] to-morrow. liis.MAsEsii, will hold a Levee at the Queen's Palace on W n ed% nesday 3 and Tier MAJESTY Will 110 kl. a Dra wig' room at St. Jame 's Palace on Thursday. Yesterday morMitg his MAsEsTx, Princes . s es Ail' citf-51*,andSpriiiA, accompanied by Earl ,C13.a5L 8 . 1 1. 5. - KEL9, Ladi:ALKNA CLIMBERLAND, the Hon, o'l - VeHeral C,A,IIrwRIGHT, and Major Pal-cs' weitt ,tt) . 'St. Georg . e's Chapel, and heard a.Seril“A preactrSd by the R.ev. Mr, CiIAbIPIGI , I s Y,4.1111(.1 afta" wards returned to the Palace. . Yesterday morning Sir, HENRY HAL/PORP, Pr' BAILIE, Dr. DUNDAR, allt r l Dr. PORE, bad a CO_, l v sultation at'Princess Am xt.lA's house, in St. AliO u . street, upon the state C.•l her Royal ilicr" ess ' health. • • An Expedition consisting of 5.000 alert, is 0 of ; dered t to assemble at PortsmOuth, for instant i 0 irkation. The 67th foot, now at Guernsq, under orders foT embarkation. , A detachment of the lst .battalion of the 9 th r e ' f, giment, cons turn, isiing of about soo marched °. - Friday fr6rn A he. bar rack s, near Canterbury , fur iaill?.. gate, wilcreivis to beernbarked for Portugal ;flg Ot The, EXpedition, which is at present ii:t.-..-°-1 i to. , with great promptitude, is supposed to be deS l. .„;, either for Cadiz of Ceuta. A detachment of LP' Guards marches this day for embarkation. It G I; sists of 60 awn from each company. Sir SID o f SMITH, it is said, is to command the naval par Et.., E t.. , this Expedition. The brigade of Guards at C 113,6 brought to town IQ do duty, ham, which , returned from Walcheren, is 1° L ' o f the detachment now diaughted. . ". nifice An order has been issued from tare four - ... i . for the immediate embarkation of twenty-four eo.7ii patties of . the tst, 2d, 'and 3d regiments, f° trili t i. and supply the p4ac e . 1800 men. Portugal is supposed to be_ their 110 nation. It has been frequently represented to Governrne.rite by the Merchants, that the country might den y of gr'eat benefit by permitting a free exportatione _ cotton. On Saturday a meeting took place be1!,_e44..... tli Board of Trade and a Deputation from the 24 . _7 0 chants trading to the Brazils on this subjeo , 1v i1 !! ; ,,,. Government came to the determination of granti.,_l licenses fur the tree exportation to all ports a.n.`" places not declared in a state of blockade regulation : the liCenses will extend to the 61 : 1 of the Ems. Cadiz has about 130,000 barrels of flour; ato n i c! ' ance •of salt provisions, and water for twelve ni0n t1 , 35 ,: Besides there are millions of doliars, trad a I'4' l ' 3 garrison of 'between twelve and 16,000 of the re 7 gular forces, and 5000 irregulars, wich the sailors train tie fleet. . Bills, The amount of the outstanding Exchequer de to the latest period to which the same can be rli a i „ Up, is 40;827,200i. of which . 6,000,0001. a re to be paid six 'rnolut&atier peace . the Sir Goa-E•CILMELEY is ap l .cin t d 14.1 . .ster to i c .1. ini ~ 01, under Otto Coult 'of- Persia, with 'an appointment of 5 (10 a-year,. 'and a retreat of 20001.., a year. slams Ambassador, it is titeretore to be supposed, l', '' succeeded in the objet his mission fo'Engkiobjet o v' - and we understand he takes hiS departu re in a re works. . , Tile l'er; a 1( hi, bri ley for * Tut AFro 40 1; tt}t Of whe t tiu„